1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an output control method, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among apparatuses used for forming images, there are image forming apparatuses equipped with a function, called a checking printing function, which is useful when Print On Demand (POD) printing is performed. This function is used for checking whether a print job of a large volume is properly printed on recording media. If the user uses this checking printing function, an arbitrary page of a printing job which is being carried out can be discharged to a tray different from the tray where the printed paper of the print job is discharged. According to this function, without affecting the output form (punching, stapling) of the printed paper, the user can check the tint of the printed product and also check the position alignment thereof.
Carbonless copy paper is a recording medium which can be printed by the image forming apparatus. Carbonless copy paper is an alternative to conventional carbon paper (paper inserted between two sheets of paper). When a person writes on the carbonless copy paper, what has been written can be copied to a plurality of sheets, without using carbon paper, according to chemical reaction of color former and color developer.
The carbonless copy paper includes three types of paper. The first carbonless copy paper is called “Coated Back (CB)”, in which the color former is applied to the back surface of the recording medium. The second carbonless copy paper is called “Coated Front and Back (CFB), in which the color developer is applied to the front surface and the color former is applied to the back surface of the recording medium. The third carbonless copy paper is called “Coated Front (CF)”, in which the color developer is applied to the front surface of the recording medium.
Thus, in making printed paper used for copying written content to a plurality of sheets, these three types of carbonless copy paper will be used. In other words, if the written content is to be copied on four sheets, the sheets (carbonless copy paper) are arranged in order of CB, CFB, CFB, CFB, and CF. According to this configuration, the content written on the CB is copied to a total of four pages (CFB×3 and CF×1).
Since the carbonless copy paper eliminates the use of inserting carbon paper between sheets, its convenience is high. On the other hand, since the carbonless copy paper is copied based on a chemical reaction of the color former and the color developer, if a wrong side of the carbonless copy paper is set, the copying of the written content will be unsuccessful.
Actually, since the color former and the color developer applied to the carbonless copy paper are transparent, it is difficult to visually check whether the paper is set with the correct side up. Thus, in some cases, carbonless copy paper with the wrong side up is set in the paper feed cassette of the image forming apparatus. Then, a printed product that cannot be used for copying the written content may be obtained. Thus, in recent years, there is a growing demand for checking printing of carbonless copy paper and determining whether correct printing is performed on the front/back surface of the carbonless copy paper.
Conventionally, there is a method that changes the checking printing operation by changing a recording medium which is used when the checking printing is performed. This method is discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-173877. According to this method, if the recording medium of the target page of the checking printing is tab paper, by using plain paper instead of tab paper when the checking printing is executed, the use of tab paper for purposes other than obtaining a printed product can be prevented.
However, according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-173877, in order to obtain the correct printed product, the checking printing is performed by changing a recording medium of the target page of the checking printing. In other words, according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-173877, since a recording medium of the target page of the checking printing is changed, if the recording medium of the target page of the checking printing is carbonless copy paper, it is difficult to check whether the carbonless copy paper is correctly printed on the front/back surface.
Considering the setting of carbonless copy paper in a paper feed cassette, there are two ways in setting the paper. The first is setting carbonless copy paper of “CB”, “CFB”, and “CF” in different cassettes. The second is making one set of sheets including “CB”×1, “CFB”×N, and “CF”×1. A plurality of these sets is set in one paper feed cassette.
For example, according to the second style, since the carbonless copy paper is set in one paper feed cassette, only one cassette is necessary in printing the paper. Actually, many types of carbonless copy paper are sold in this style. In the following description, the carbonless copy paper in this form is described as pre-collated carbonless copy paper.
If the target page of the checking printing is pre-collated carbonless copy paper, however, it is necessary to use up one set of sheets (=N+2 sheets). Thus, the checking printing needs to be executed so that one set of sheets is used up for the checking printing.
Further, regarding the first style, a method for performing the checking printing is not discussed when the recording medium of the target page of the checking printing is carbonless copy paper.